Ojisan
by Oldest Soul
Summary: The story of Uzumaki Himawari and a dead man. Post-epilogue.
1. Prologue

**First and foremost, let me state that this is neither a continuation nor a rewrite of a previous story of mine,** ** _They Called Me a Genius_** **. I will, however, be employing some of the same ideas, and possibly even lines of text from that story.**

 **Secondly, I realize that according to canon, Himawari did not inherit the Byakugan. Well... there are a lot of things I didn't like about the second gen. If violation of canon is the thing that, as a fan, makes you gag, this story is not for you.**

 **Lastly, for anyone who doesn't know,** ** _Ojisan_** **is the Japanese honorific for Uncle. Like Sensei or Senpai, it can be used on its own or joined to a person's name. I use it here to refer to Neji, despite the fact that yes, biologically, Neji is Himawari's second cousin.**

 **But enough of my babble, I present to you the prologue of this story. Enjoy, review, thank you.**

* * *

Prologue

"There you go, Ojisan." Himawari finished packing down the warm earth, not bothering about the dirt she'd gotten under her fingernails. The sunflower lifted its face towards the warm June sun as Himawari ran her hand over the smooth grave marker. She traced the Kanji carved into the granite with a finger: Hyuuga Neji.

"Sorry I haven't come to see you sooner." She apologized, "But a lot has been going on recently. Mama has been teaching me the Eight Trigrams – I got to sixteen palms yesterday!" Himawari heard her voice glow with pride. The Eight Trigrams had been incredibly difficult in the beginning, but she'd eventually gotten the hang of it. Now she just needed to improve her chakra control to complete the jutsu.

"Bolt's mad," she continued, "because Mama won't teach it to him. He's so dumb sometimes. I doubt he even realizes you have to use the Byakugan for it – which he doesn't have, as you know." She giggled, never missing a chance to put Bolt down about not having inherited the legendary dojutsu. "But Dad promised to teach him Senjutsu when he's old enough, though I doubt he'll have the patience for it." Himawari rolled her eyes, thinking about her exceedingly stupid and impulsive brother.

A slight breeze ruffled Himawari's hair, picking up that one lock that would _never_ stay down. She put a hand on it subconsciously, always worried that it looked rather like an antenna. Bolt had one too, though it never seemed to bother him. In fact, many of the girls called it cute, much to his delight.

"Oh!" she started, "I forgot to tell you! The chuinin exams are coming up in a month! Suna's hosting this year so I'll be leaving soon. But don't worry, I'll get Ino to water your flowers until I get back."

Another, stronger gust of wind flowed around Himawari, accompanied by a threatening roll of thunder.

"Looks like rain." Himawari said, noting the threatening clouds rolling up, "I'd better go, Ojisan."

* * *

 **Subsequent chapters will not be this short, I promise. This 300-word bullshit only happens in prologues.**

 **\- oldsoul**


	2. Suna

Chapter 1: Suna

"At least let me trim it up a bit."

"Never!" Bolt put a hand on the back of his neck where his shock of bright hair was getting rather long and unruly as he grinned down at his mother. At six foot, Bolt was even taller than Kakashi, and his favorite thing to do when he wasn't bragging about his 'skills' as a ninja was to look down upon others from his lofty height.

"How long are you going to let it grow?" Himawari asked with a raised eyebrow. Bolt smirked.

"Down to my ass."

"Boruto Uzumaki!" Hinata shrieked, though with her soft voice, it didn't sound very threatening. "You watch your language young man!"

"But Mooooommm! Shikadai is allowed to say what he wants! Why can't I?!"

"Listen to your mother!" Naruto's voice preceded him as the Hokage entered the scene, immediately swiping an onigiri from the counter and biting into it.

"Naruto, those are for the kids. They need _something_ to eat while they're in Suna." Hinata chided, laying down the scissors as her attention was diverted. Bolt quickly snatched them up and stuffed them in his pants pocket. Himawari knew that if those scissors were allowed to make it all the way up to Bolt's room, Hinata could be sure she'd never see them again.

"I hope you haven't forgotten," Naruto sniffed, as though offended, "That _I'm_ going to Suna as well."

"I made a different batch for you." Hinata sighed. " _Those_ ones are for the kids because you don't like the ones with plums in them."

" _What do you mean 'plums'?!"_ Naruto looked down and seemed to notice the half-eaten purple blob in the center of his onigiri for the first time. With a shriek he dropped it, scattering rice over the floor. This was accompanied by an admirable string of swear words, Naruto earning himself a glare from his wife.

"Narutooo! I just finished telling Bolt not to use that kind of language." She reached for her scissors, finding nothing. "Good grief, where did those scissors get to?"

Himawari caught Bolt's eye and he winked, bringing a finger to his lips. She shook her head but said nothing as Naruto chimed in.

"Let the kid grow out his hair if he wants. He'll be even better looking."

Hinata sighed yet again. "I guess so . . . it's probably just a phase anyway. Once it gets to shoulder-length he'll be begging me to cut it for him. But," she held out her hand and beckoned to Bolt, "I won't be able to if he doesn't give me the scissors."

…..

"It's our last day here." Himawari fiddled with her hair. It was a beautiful summer day in Konoha as three genin sat on the roof of the Academy, unbeknownst to Iruka-sensei. From the roof of the administration building, the tallest building in the village, one could see nearly all of Konoha stretched out around them.

"It's not like we're never coming back you know." The snort came from the boy to Himawari's left, whose most distinctive traits were the red markings on his cheeks and the large brown dog at his side. One of the Inuzuka triplets, Taro was an act now, think later type of guy. His ninken, Hibiki, was more laid back and relaxed; one might even use the word _lazy_.

"Who knows?" a gloomy voice answered, "People have died in the chuinin exams. Imagine, dead in Suna, in the middle of the hot, dry desert, no one to find you until your skin has been stripped right off by the sandstorms and the only things that remain are your bones and your hitai-ate."

"Aw shut up, Nobu." Taro pulled a face. Nobu only shrugged. Small and shrimpy, Nobuto Yuuhi was a true pessimist at heart, with a flair for the dramatic besides. And although weak in taijutsu, he was easily one of the top genjutsu genin in Konoha, second only to Uchiha Sarada and her Sharingan.

"We should be training." Taro noted, "Everyone else probably is."

"Where's Konohamaru-sensei?" Himawari wondered aloud, scanning the village below for any sign of said sensei.

"He's been attacked, most likely." Nobu volunteered.

Taro pointed, using his left hand to shade his eyes, "Or he could just be buying flowers for Moegi-sensei."

Following his gaze, Himawari spotted her sensei outside the Yamanaka flower shop, a modest collection of daffodils in his left hand. Konohamaru looked left and then right, and then set off in the general direction of Moegi's apartment.

"I hope he knows she isn't going to be there." Himawari pointed out, " _She_ 's helping train her team for the chuinin exams, like any normal jonin."

She turned her eyes towards the training field, where amongst the various ninja she could make out a bright head of orange hair. Moegi was pointing towards her students and instructing them with wild arm movements to punctuate. Himawari was able to see a tall, blond figure next to a boy with a dog and a shorter, dark-haired girl. These would be her charges, no doubt: Uzumaki Bolt, Inuzuka Daichi with his ninken Rika, and the formidable Uchiha Sarada.

Taro got to his feet, also watching the ninja on the grass of the training field. "Who says we need Sensei for our training?" He pointed to the woods. "Last one to the Stumpy Clearing owes me a pork chop!" With that, Taro took to his heels down the side of the building, Hibiki on his back. Himawari exchanged an eyeroll with Nobu and dashed after them.

The Stumpy Clearing was a popular training spot for genin and jonin alike, and the area was littered with rusty kunai and shuriken that had been lost or forgotten in the woods. Konohamaru had convinced them to use it as another training device – any remotely observant ninja wouldn't find himself stepping on an old blade.

Nobu was, of course, the last to reach the clearing, panting. He sat down on a stump to catch his breath.

"Looks like you're buying lunch today, Nobu." Taro smirked before turning to Himawari. "I'll beat you this time!"

"You've said that the last thirty times we've sparred." Himawari shrugged, "It hasn't happened yet."

" _This_ time, it'll happen."

"Haven't heard that one before." Himawari remarked dryly, activating her Byakugan. Taro crouched on all fours in response, having gone into Beast Mode.

Himawari readied her Gentle Fist stance as Taro and Hibiki rushed at her from two sides. Grinning rather devilishly, she geared up her chakra. Just as they leaped. . .

"Eight Trigrams: Two palms!"

 _Bam! Bam!_ Taro and Hibiki were temporarily slowed in their assault as Himawari struck each of them. "Four palms!"

"Eight palms!"

"Sixteen palms!"

"Thirty . . . thirty . . ." here her concentration broke and she lost her grasp on her chakra. The rotations stopped and Himawari slowed to a halt. Hibiki and Taro were both on the ground, grimacing.

"Holy shit that hurts!" Taro snarled. Hibiki only whined. "What kinda jutsu is that?!"

"It's a Hyuuga clan technique." Himawari explained, as she leaned down to release the chakra points she'd sealed in Taro's body. He waved her hand away and pointed to Hibiki. "Him first."

Himawari obediently healed the dog first as she continued. "Mine is actually incomplete. It's supposed to go up to sixty-four palms, but so far I've only been able to get to sixteen." There was an audible sigh from Hibiki as his chakra resumed its normal flow and Himawari had quickly finished with Taro as well.

"What do you think, Nobu?" she asked, unable to keep from bragging just a little. Nobu, who had been silent throughout the whole affair, wrinkled his nose.

"It doesn't leave you fatigued by using up too much of your chakra?" he wondered. As that was considered a compliment in Nobu language, Himawari took it as such while she helped Taro to his feet.

"No. It doesn't require a lot of chakra so long as I can control it."

"Your turn, Nobu." Taro grinned, as though he hadn't just been pained and immobilized a minute ago. With the usual lack of enthusiasm, Nobu sighed heavily for effect and rose to his total height, which was all of five feet two inches.

"We're gonna win this time." Taro promised, "Won't we, boy?"

Hibiki barked in agreement and licked Taro's fingers affectionately as Himawari took Nobu's place on the stump.

…

"It looks kinda . . . desolate, doesn't it?" Himawari shaded her eyes from the beating sun as she observed the dry sand structures of Sunagakure.

"Too much sand." Nobu agreed, looking around at the vast monotone that was the desert of the Wind Country.

Konohamaru turned to look at his students as they drew near the village. "There's an oasis on the other side – that's where the exam stadium is."

As they approached the main road in and out of Suna, a man appeared to block their way.

"Identification, please?"

"Sarutobi Konohamaru." Said Konohamaru, "And students, here for the chuinin exams."

The Suna nin shook his head. "I'll need to see proof of ID before I can let you in."

"Of course." Konohamaru removed his rucksack and began to rummage through it during an awkwardly long silence. After some muttered curses and various blasphemes that Himawari was sure he'd learned from Naruto, her sensei successfully produced four cards, which the guard quickly scanned over. He nodded, handing back the cards which once again disappeared into the dark depths of Konohamaru's rucksack.

"And the dog?"

"Ninken."

The guard glanced at Hibiki, and deciding that the dog looked ninken enough for him, gestured for them to continue into Suna with a murmured "good luck." To each of the genin.

 _Desolate_ , Himawari discovered, was not the correct word to describe Suna with. The village was every bit as busy and bustling as Konoha, even more so as more and more ninja arrived in preparation for the chuinin exams, sporting various headbands. Several of them shot Team Konohamaru dirty looks, particularly the Kiri nin. After all, there had long been bad blood between Konoha and Kiri in the past.

The genin were shown to the sleeping quarters: three long buildings where all foreign genin would be temporarily staying while the exams were in session. Each room was shared between two people of the same village to prevent tension, and Himawari found that she'd be rooming with Inuzuka Akira; Taro and Daichi's triplet sister. Akira seemed to have already arrived as her things were scattered about the room and a huge bag of dog food had been stashed at the foot of one bed. Himawari quickly dropped off her luggage and met her squad outside the building.

"So, food or training first?" Konohamaru asked, playing with that blue scarf of his.

There was a unanimous vote to begin with food, so Konohamaru led the genin to what he claimed was the best ramen place in the known world, though nothing could top Ichi Raku, of course.

It was a good thing Bolt wasn't there, Himawari noted as she scanned the available options. There was nothing but ramen, and Bolt hated the stuff. Himawari on the other hand, had developed quite a taste for it.

"We don't allow _dog_ s in the restaurant, young man." The waiter sniffed disdainfully at Hibiki and gave Taro a nasty look upon entry.

So they ate outside.


	3. Kunoichi

Chapter Two: Kunoichi

Inuzuka Akira tossed kunai at a straw dummy while Himawari watched the rain dribble down the window.

Rain was an extremely rare sight in the Wind Country, the textbooks said. It rained about once a year and not for a very long at a time.

 _Thwak, thwack, thwack_. Akira struck the dummy in the head, the chest, and the gut; all fatal wounds if the kunai went deep enough.

Tall, slim, and blond, Akira was the envy of every girl in Konoha; boys flocked around her like flies to honey. Thus far she'd been relatively uninterested in them, preferring instead to practice taijutsu with her canine companion, Jouta.

 _Thwack, thwack, thwack_.

"Let me have a go." Himawari beckoned and Akira tossed her a kunai, which Himawari caught by the handle.

"Bet you can't hit him in the eye." Akira challenged.

"Easy." Himawari replied, "Bet _you_ can't." she added for effect, though she knew they could both probably hit it with their backs turned.

"On three, ready? One, two," _Thwack._

The straw dummy now had two kunai sticking out of its painted-on pupils, and Himawari had to admit that it looked pretty sadistic.

"So how far do you think you'll get this year?" Himawari asked as Akira began retrieving her weapons.

"Not sure." Akira yanked out a particularly stubborn kunai with a grunt, "Haven't checked out the opposition yet. You?"

Himawari shook her head. "I've only seen a few Taki nin training." She remembered seeing a boy and a girl sparring yesterday. "What about from our village? Think anyone will make it to chuinin this time?"

"If anyone it'll be Uchiha, no matter how good the other villages are." Akira predicted. Himawari nodded – Sarada was an absolute natural at anything ninja, including the unapproachable personality.

"I've heard that the Iwa nin have a new prodigy on their hands." Himawari volunteered, "Some old Suna ladies were talking about him yesterday."

"Would it be bad if I said I hope there's _someone_ who can beat the shit out of Sarada for once, even if it is an Iwa bastard?" Akira snorted, beginning again with the kunai.

Himawari giggled and agreed. "Maybe then she'd lose that we-are-proud look that's been permanently frozen on her face."

 _Thwack, thwack, thwack._

…..

"This will be a written examination." The proctor announced. Middle-aged and clad in the typical Suna robes, over one hundred pairs of eyes stared up at him. "You will receive thirty minutes to complete the exam. If you have not finished when time is called, you and your team _will_ be disqualified." He began to pass out the test papers, and once everyone had received one along with a number two pencil, the administrator grinned cheerfully. "At least two members of each team must make a 100% for your team to move on. Any attempts to cheat or otherwise breach the code of ethics will result in immediate disqualification. Any questions?" there were none. "You may begin."

One hundred fifty-nine papers were flipped over, and three hundred eighteen eyes blinked in unison.

Himawari flipped her paper over again – and again, then quickly looked around at everyone else. No, she wasn't the only one. Every genin held in front of them a completely blank piece of paper.

After several minutes, a boy near the front tentatively raised his hand. The proctor appeared not to notice him.

"Uh, proctor-san?"

The Suna nin looked up at the boy through his spectacles. "Yes, what is it?"

The genin held up his paper. "My test is completely blank."

"Sharing information about the test is strictly prohibited, young man." The administrator replied in a stern tone, "Please take your teammates and exit the room. You have been disqualified from the exams."

The boy stared at him, dumbfounded. The proctor raised his eyebrows. "Did you hear what I said, young man? Please exit the room with your team."

"Idiot!" a girl across the room hissed, "I told you to keep your mouth shut, didn't I?"

"Shhh!" the proctor held a finger to his lips, "speaking during the examination is _not_ permitted!"

The girl and the boy rose along with another genin, and together they made their way from the testing room, muttering all the way.

"Please excuse the interruption." The Suna nin apologized after they had left, "You may continue."

Himawari looked over her barren white printer paper once more. The only thing that was there besides her name (which she had written in the top right hand corner) was a small ink dot near the bottom.

Come to think of it . . . Himawari inspected the other side. Yes! There was an inkblot in exactly the same spot on this side, too! She stole a glance at her neighbor's paper. He had one as well! This _couldn't_ be mere coincidence.

Himawari held the paper close to her face, inspecting this reoccurring inkblot.

It was not an inkblot.

It was an asterisk.

But how would an asterisk help her pass the test? And more importantly, what _was_ the test?

Himawari's thoughts were interrupted as she recognized the touch of someone's chakra on her mind – genjutsu! Counting her lucky stars that Byakugan-users were highly sensitive to genjutsu, Himawari made to release it before she recognized the chakra as that of someone familiar – Nobu.

Unsure if it was actually Nobu or just part of the test, Himawari decided to play along as the genjutsu took effect.

Nobu rose from his seat a few rows behind her and walked to the front of the room. Every other genin stared straight ahead, unmoving, and some of their features were fuzzy. Whoever was inducing the genjutsu, whether it was Nobu or not, was certainly not going to great lengths to convince her of its veracity.

As Himawari watched, Nobu, standing on a chair to increase his meager height, pointed to something above him. Himawari, following his finger, saw that there on the wall was a kunai hung point-down, and the hole in the handle where one would usually string a wire was shaped exactly like the asterisk on her paper.

Himawari nodded, but sent genjutsu-Nobu a confused look, not sure how this solved anything. Nobu traced his finger down the tip of the kunai, which pointed to a poster on the wall that read:

" _I am more delicate than a feather,_

 _Yet more deadly than a scorpion's poison._

 _I am everyone_

 _And I am no one._

 _Who am I?"_

It was a classic Shinobi riddle, one that every child learned in their academy days. As genjutsu-Nobu saw comprehension dawn on Himawari's face, he melted away and the stone-still genin resumed their frustrated expressions and studying of the test paper.

Himawari turned around to meet the eyes of the real Nobu, who nodded once in confirmation before a voice said,

"Young lady, I suggest you turn around, lest you be suspected of cheating."

Himawari quickly turned back to face the front of the classroom as the proctor eyed her closely. Once he'd decided it would be too much trouble to send her away, the proctor returned to his frequent scanning of the classroom as Himawari wrote a single word on her paper.

 _Kunoichi_

….

"A little under half of the teams we began with will be moving on to the second stage of the chuinin exams." The proctor gestured to the genin before him. "Congratulations, if you are here, you have passed round one – that of observation and deductive reasoning. Take a look around you; some of these ninja will be your friends, and most will be your enemies. I suggest you learn to distinguish one from the other before the next round." With this bit of advice, the Suna nin smiled knowingly, turned, and exited the room.

After he'd rounded the corner and disappeared from sight, a murmur began, quickly growing to a louder chatter amongst the genin who had passed the test.

"Jesus, I never woulda found that asterisk without Nobu." Taro admitted after their squad had reconvened in a corner of the room. "I thought it was just like a blob from the paper processing plant or something."

"I thought it was an inkblot." Himawari nodded. "But Nobu, how _did_ you work all that out?"

Nobu shrugged in a rather embarrassed type of way. "I was looking around the room because I was bored and the weird kunai handle caught my eye. After that it only seemed logical that if it was a written test, there should be a written question to answer."

"Genius." Taro announced solemnly, before Himawari was startled by a shadow cast over her and jumped.

"Calm down, Wari-chan." Bolt chuckled, "I was just gonna say I was glad you made it . . . because team Meogi doesn't have to worry about any _real_ competition from you guys." He grinned at her mischievously, and Himawari shoved him.

"And I was just about to say something nice to you, too." She shook her head good-naturedly, "I just hope you don't complain when my Byakugan _kicks your ass_ when I get to fight you."

"Statistically, the chances of you and him fighting are less than seven percent." Himawari hadn't seen Aburame Hiro approaching until he was upon them. Only about a half-inch taller than Nobu, Hiro's nasally voice and habit of doing calculations in his head had earned him a reputation of being quite nerdy. His infatuation with insects didn't help.

"Don't fraternize with them!" Akira, his teammate, dragged Hiro away, "They're the enemy now! Himawari, I'm not letting you feed Jouta anymore; I'm sure you understand I can't have potential rivals meddling with my ninken."

"Of course not." Himawari rolled her eyes as Akira and Hiro disappeared into the throng. She was all too happy to give up any chance of having to feed the dog – she didn't really fancy the smell of _Ninken Nibbles_ on her hands.

"Quiet! Quiet please!" one voice rose above the babbling, which was obediently quelled at its request. The speaker was an incredibly tiny Suna kunoichi whose most notable trait was the wild turquoise hair framing her face.

"I," the kunoichi announced regally, "am Fujiyama Midori. And I will be proctoring the second stage of these chuinin exams."

Midori hop-stepped onto a table so that she could look down on the genin instead of up at them.

"As I'm sure all of you know, the second stage is _always_ a survival test, and each of the five great shinobi villages has a forest which is used for the second round of the exams. Ours," she gestured towards the east, "Is over that way. However," Midori smirked rather confidently as she raked her eyes over the assembled ninja, "This test will not only be of survival, but also of cooperation and teamwork. All of you will be at the entrance to the Desert Forest one week from today at _exactly_ eight AM on May ninth and we will commence the second stage. Late arrivals will be dismissed." with this, she waved once and disappeared on the spot.


	4. Kaoru

Chapter 3: Kaoru

At 7:59 AM on May ninth, all but one team of genin stood before the gates to the Desert Forest. Midori was sitting on the top of the iron gates and swinging her legs impatiently while waiting for them to quiet down. Finally, it seemed she couldn't take it anymore.

"Quieeettt!"

Several of the genin jumped at the sound of her raised voice and Midori held up a clipboard. Himawari assumed it was a roster of the teams moving on to stage two.

"I'm going to take roll." Midori announced irritably, "Beginning with Konoha. Team four!"

"Here!"

"Here!"

". . . Here."

Two hands shot up and another accompanied by a quiet sigh, as though raising one's hand was an incredible amount of work to go to in order to announce one's presence.

"You know," Shikadai rubbed the back of his neck self-consciously as he whispered to his teammates, "I'm not really sure about this whole Desert Forest thing . . . seems like a lot of work."

"Shut up!" Chouchou hissed fiercely, "You're not backing out now, idiot!"

"Team five!" Midori called. Himawari raised her hand along with Taro and Nobu.

"Here."

"Here."

"Here."

Midori made a check mark. "Team eight! . . . No team eight?" she looked around.

"Here!" someone shouted, "We're here!" Bolt, Sarada, Daichi, and Rika appeared, running for all they were worth.

Midori looked at her watch. "It is almost 8:01. In fourteen seconds," she grinned wolfishly, "you would have been late."

"We apologize, Fujiyama-san." Sarada gared at Bolt. "Boruto had a . . . digestive crisis this morning."

" _You_ were the one who gave me ramen for breakfast!" Bolt shrieked, "You know my stomach can't take it!"

"It wasn't me, it was Daichi!" Sarada flung out her arm to point at Daichi, who shrugged innocently and scratched behind Rika's ears.

"Ugh, enough!" Midori groaned, "Calm down. Konoha, team twelve."

"Here!"

"Here!"

"Ruff!"

"Here!"

Once Midori had finished calling roll, she stood, balancing delicately on the sharp iron spikes of the gates. "As I said before, this test is not only one of survival, but also of teamwork and cooperation." She crossed her arms. "As a shinobi, you must be prepared to work alongside anyone and everyone, but you must also be cautious about your colleagues – can you trust them? Who's to say?"

"From now on," Midori continued, "Until the conclusion of the exams, you will not be working with your current teammates. In fact, you may even be working _against_ them." She gestured to her right, where one of the Suna chunin stepped forward and handed her a single piece of paper. Midori held it up for all spectators to see.

"Each of your names is on this sheet. Collectively, the jonin sensei and I have put you in teams of two – you will all be working with someone of a different village. Shh! You there – yes you! Be quiet! I'm explaining the task." Midori paused to shush Bolt, who had been muttering something to Sarada. Reluctantly, Bolt straightened and Midori continued after sending him a dirty look. "Where was I – oh yes, the teams. Listen closely because I'm only going to say them once." Midori held up the sheet and began to read.

"Aburame Hiro and Seita Rin. Arato Izura and Yuuhi Nobuto. Bishu Enyo and Nara Shikadai." And so it went down the list until somewhere near the bottom, "Uzumaki Himawari and Takahashi Kaoru." And immediately after, "Uzumaki Boruto and Saiyo Hideki."

Takahashi Kaoru, it turned out, was a rather quiet and stony-faced boy with a Kirigakure hitai-ate strapped firmly to his head, the ends hidden underneath a dark ponytail that rivalled Inojin's in length.

"So . . . uh, I guess we'll be getting through this forest together, then." Himawari stuck out her hand. Kaoru eyed it suspiciously, as though not sure if touching her hand would electrocute him or not.

"You shake it." Himawari explained, "It's a type of greeting in my country."

Kaoru, who still had not said anything, took her hand, shook it side to side once, then dropped it quickly as though stung. It was a start, Himawari supposed.

"In my country," he said, "We do this." He touched his chin with two fingers and Himawari copied him. She had never met a Kiri nin before, and discovered that he had a strange accent, more pronounced than those of Suna, Kumo, and Iwa.

"It's because of war." She would learn later upon questioning Konohamaru. "For generations, Konoha and Kiri were on awful terms with one another. It prevented the intermingling of cultures between us, so many of their customs are different from ours. Have you noticed how they never make eye contact while eating? They consider it extremely rude."

"Do you damn genin _ever shut up?!_ "

One hundred fifty-eight eyes blinked in unison at Midori, who was fuming from atop her post at the gate.

"I wasn't finished explaining the task yet." She gestured again to the nin who had brought her the list of names. He nodded and began to pass out small yellow pins to each team as Midori went on.

"Each team will receive one of these badges. Your mission? To end up with two badges by the time you reach the central outpost in the center of the forest. No matter how you do it, if you don't have two badges by the end of this test, you're out. That will leave half of you at most."

A Kisa nin standing next to Inojin raised her hand. "Is there a time limit?"

Midori smiled. "Why yes, in fact, there is. The Desert Forest has roughly a five-mile radius. You're to be at the outpost by noon on May thirteenth _with your current teammate._ That gives you a little over three and a half days. If you're not there, don't have two badges, or aren't with your teammate, you're not moving on. Got it?"

"Got it." Chorused the genin.

"Oh," Midori added, folding her arms, "And please refrain from killing each other. We proctors aren't paid to clean up that kind of mess."

Seeming to have a taste for abrupt exits, Midori held up two fingers in a handsign and was gone.

…..

"Wait here." Their chunin escort gestured for Kaoru and Himawari to sit down. "It will be a while before everyone gets into position."

Each genin team was being transported to a different entrance to the Desert forest; Himawari and Kaoru were somewhere on the northwest side. The outpost was in the center of the forest, five miles in. with luck, five miles in two and a half days would be nothing.

Fifteen minutes were spent in long silence. Finally, the Suna chuinin looked at his watch, then stood and unlocked the gate. "Alright, you're in. Good luck."

The Desert Forest was nothing at all like Konoha's Forest of Death. For one thing, it was entirely formed of densely packed bamboo, and the sun shining through the upper canopy cast a warm golden light on everything.

For another thing, it was not so much a forest as a maze. Through the bamboo there was an obvious path to follow. The two genin stood and looked at it for a minute.

"Should we follow it?" Kaoru wondered aloud. "It could lead to a trap."

"Well," Himawari shrugged, "The alternative is hacking our way through bamboo for three days, on _top_ of battling another team. Take your pick."

"Yeah," he nodded, "Let's take the path."

"Now I know why they're giving us three days to cover a distance that should only take one." Himawari remarked as they started off, "It would be too easy to get turned around and start going in the wrong direction – I mean, all the bamboo looks the same."

Kaoru held out his hand. "Not a problem."

Himawari observed in his outstretched palm a small compass, the needle wavering for a moment and then settling steadily on the red N.

"We entered the forest from the north northwest." Kaoru stated, "So we should head east southeast from this position." He pointed forward and to the right. "This way."

"No, we entered the forest from the west northwest." Himawari argued, pointing more forward than right. "We need to go this way."

Kaoru frowned, looked at his compass, and then looked up. "The sun is there. It's still rising, so this way is east." He pointed again. "Therefore, our entrance was north northwest, and we should go _this_ way."

He was right so Himawari had to concede defeat and the journey began. Although their path wavered and there were several small paths connected to theirs that went off in various directions, they were able to stay on a general southeasterly route.

May ninth passed without incident. They found a small spring with which to fill their water bottles and ate dried jerky for lunch and dinner. They encountered no other teams, although they saw smoke from an explosion rising over the canopy tops from a clash.

Kaoru grumbled about this over his jerky. "What if we don't meet anyone at all? We won't have a chance to get a second badge."

"There'll be more people as we get further in." Himawari concluded, "The closer in we get, the less distance between us and another team, the more likely we are to meet someone."

Kaoru shrugged. "True."

That night Himawari looked up at the stars through the canopy of the bamboo. She had decided some time ago that Neji had to be the rightmost star in Orion's belt, and she could barely see it now, half obscured by a stray leaf.

…

The next day began uneventfully, but by noon, evidence of a nearby enemy team was found.

"Look at this." Kaoru bent down, brushing the dirt with his fingertips. There in the sand was the distinct impression of a shinobi sandal.

"Probably only half an hour old." Kaoru said upon further inspection of the print, "They should be ahead of us on the path."

Himawari nodded, "I'll see if I can see them."

"If they're a half hour ahead of us you can't see them from here." Kaoru pointed out in a tone that was clearly meant to sound scorning.

"You can't. I can." Himawari had already activated her Byakugan as she scanned ahead . . . _there_!

"They're about two miles ahead of us." She announced, "Probably travelling slower than we are. If we go by treetop we could probably catch up with them in fifteen minutes."

"Travel by treetop?" Kaoru sent her a strange look.

"Don't tell me you can't." Himawari raised her eyebrows. What kind of nin couldn't travel by treetop?

Kaoru shook his head. "I've never heard of it."

"But they teach it in the academy! Even a six year old can do it!"

"You have to remember," he replied slowly, "That in the Wave Country we do not have many forests and large oaks like you do in Konoha. Kiri is full of marshes and lakes and wetlands, so our basic skill sets differ to accommodate our terrain. A Kiri child can easily swim through quicksand. A Konoha child can easily travel over the trees. But one cannot do the other without some measure of difficulty."

"I hadn't thought of it that way." Himawari admitted, "I guess we'll continue on as we are, then, without quicksand or treetops. The bamboo might be difficult to navigate over anyway. We'll catch up to them soon enough."

Kaoru nodded and silence elapsed for several minutes. Then, "That jutsu that you used to find the other team. It was that famous dojutsu, yes? Ba . . . Ba . . ." he hesitated, unsure of the word.

"Byakugan." Himawari suppled proudly, "It's my clan's kekkei gen –"

She was interrupted by two shuriken crossing the path, having to jump back to avoid getting hit.

Damn! They'd let their guard down and hadn't noticed another team sneaking up on them.

"You didn't really think we wouldn't notice you were following us, did you?" a boy dropped from the bamboo, landing in front of Himawari and Kaoru while another dropped from behind.


	5. Desert Forest

**enjoy, review, thank you**

Chapter Four: Desert Forest

Himawari and Kaoru stood back to back, kunai at the ready. "I'll take this one." Himawari offered, referring to the Taki nin in front of her. Kaoru nodded.

Himawari activated her Byakugan as she stabbed with her kunai. The boy easily parried her blow and swung; she ducked, retaliating with a simple touch to his side.

The Taki genin yelped as she cut off a second chakra point. He flipped backwards out of her range and began making hand seals – boar and dragon; a water jutsu.

A jet of water spurted from the Taki nin's mouth with such force that it forced him back a step. Himawari dodged but the water followed her every move. She couldn't spring away quickly enough and the jet clipped her left shoulder, sending her spinning backwards with the amount of pressure it held.

The boy took advantage of her stumble and had one arm around her neck in a matter of seconds, also holding her wrists tightly so she wouldn't be able to seal any more of his chakra points.

"Badge." He said, "Where is it?"

Himawari resisted the urge to glance towards Kaoru – the badge was pinned to the inside of his shirt – and struggled instead, but to no avail. The Taki boy tightened his arm around her neck. "Look, I could snap your neck if I wanted." He growled, "So really, it's in your best interests to just give me the damn badge."

Kaoru was still locked in combat with the Iwa genin and Himawari's best offensive jutsu was useless. The way she saw it, she really only had one choice; she allowed her Byakugan to deactivate. Just as she'd hoped, her captor took this as a sign of defeat and subconsciously loosened his grip under her chin. Quick as a flash, Himawari turned her head and sank her teeth into his arm, tasting blood.

The Takin in shrieked rather girlishly and lost focus on immobilizing Himawari, several bits of colorful language escaping him. With her wrists unbound she was free to begin her Gentle Fist art, striking first in his shoulders to render his arms useless, then at his knees to bring him to the ground. Now that his arms and legs were cut off from the chakra flow, he couldn't do anything to stop her from knocking him out, or even killing him if she so chose.

By this point, Kaoru had also pinned his opponent to the ground, dirt staining the Iwa nin's white shirt. Kaoru had received a rather nasty bruise near his ear, but looked otherwise unscathed.

"Where is it?" Himawari demanded of her captive, "If you don't tell us we're going to search you anyway, so might as well." The Taki nin remained silent, as did the Iwa nin. Himawari punched him on the back where he could still feel it. "Tell me now or I'll give you a bruise you won't forget for a long while." She threatened.

Himawari waited expectantly but he held his tongue. Not giving him a second chance, she clocked him in the left eye, accompanied by a grunt from the victim and a wince from the Iwa spectator. While the purple splotch over his eye flourished, Himawari touched two fingers to the base of his skull and the Taki genin went slack.

The Iwa boy's eyes widened in shock and a short whimper escaped him. "That kind of jutsu," he swallowed, whispering quietly, "killing with a touch . . . I've never seen it."

Himawari realized that it did look rather like she'd killed the boy. In reality, she'd only sealed enough of the chakra points in his brain to render him unconscious – if she'd sealed all of them, only then would he be dead.

"Come on and tell us where the badge is and I'll let you go." She promised walking towards the pinned Iwa boy and Kaoru, deciding to let him take the situation as he would.

"In his shoe. It's in his right shoe." The Iwa genin promised, not appearing to think twice about it. "But please just don't kill me. I want to go home, my family's waiting for me I want to . . ." he blubbered on as Himawari knelt down and removed the Taki boy's right shoe. Sure enough, there was a yellow badge inside. Himawari slipped it into her tool pouch and rose to her feet.

" . . . and I have to take over my father's business someday and I'm going to –"

"Shut _up_ already." Kaoru glared, swatting the idiot in the face. Himawari finished with him in the same way she had his partner, and silence fell over the woods where they had fought.

Kaoru got to his feet, returning his kunai to the tool pouch at his waist. "Stupid ass thought that was a killing jutsu." He snorted at the unconscious Iwa boy, "Can't believe he couldn't sense the other guy's chakra."

"Too scared to think straight." Himawari chuckled as they left the scene behind. Kaoru smirked but did not laugh.

"We should keep our guard up, though." He warned, "We were ambushed too easily that time."

She nodded. The further they got, the more likely they were to be attacked again.

…..

Later that day, Himawari discovered the reason that the Desert Forest was so named.

It was almost sundown when they neared the central outpost, and Himawari could see clear sky through the bamboo ahead, which meant the forest was coming to an end. They reached the edge of the bamboo and Himawari scuffed the gritty earth beneath her feet.

Stretched out before them for an entire quarter-mile was absolutely nothing but dry, flat sand. Not a single tree or bamboo shoot could be seen in this barren space – here, a smallish Konoha kunoichi who knew every trick to hiding in the forest would stick out like a sore thumb. This small desert of a quarter-mile radius was in the shape of a circle, and a building that she assumed was the outpost stood in the center.

Kaoru raised his arm to point towards the right. "Look."

At the edge of the bamboo forest not too far away, Himawari could make out two forms starting out into the open. They sped across the sand, making a beeline for the outpost. Only seconds into their mad dash, the ground erupted with a rumble like thunder and a shower of stones. Two more genin appeared from the newly made hole in the ground, and Himawari was fairly certain that Shikadai was one of them.

There followed a short scuffle in which the second team emerged victorious, whereupon they in turn were attacked by a team of kunoichi who had been waiting for just such an opportunity. After the second battle, Shikadai and his teammate were again the victors, and they disappeared once more into the ground before someone else could get after them.

"They're tunneling under the ground," Himawari deduced, "until they get to the outpost building."

"Nevermind what they're doing." Kaoru snapped, "What are _we_ going to do? There's got to be at least ten teams lying in wait for a team who has two badges to try and get to the outpost. There's no way we can get across in the open without being attacked."

"You didn't let me finish." She replied, rather annoyed, "I was going to say that it was a good idea and we should make our own tunnel."

"Do you happen to be a user of the Hidden Mole Jutsu?" Kaoru crossed his arms, seemingly determined to stay pessimistic. "Because I don't."

Himawari had to think about that minor problem, but it was Kaoru who came up with the solution after several moments of silence.

"Who says we have to make our own tunnel? He shrugged, gesturing to the scattered earthen debris from the rupture created by Shikdai and his partner. "We can just follow them."

Himawari grinned as the sun dipped below the horizon. "You're smart."

"Glad you noticed." Kaoru remarked dryly.

"We need to wait till it's completely dark." She added, "Then maybe we can make it to the tunnel without a bunch of people jumping us."

Kaoru agreed, so they sat in twenty minutes of silence as night fell. During that time, one fight broke out near them and they heard sounds of another on the far side of the outpost building.

When Himawari, who had been watching the sky, saw Neji's star appear, she gestured to Kaoru. "Let's go."

They travelled along the edge of the forest until they were directly in front of the entrance to the tunnel, amazingly without encountering anyone.

Himawari cursed the fact that the moon was nearly full, illuminating the landscape. She held her breath and glanced at Neji's star. _If you could spare some luck, Ojisan . . ._

As though in answer, sounds of a skirmish broke out towards the left – hopefully, everyone would be focused on that instead of two genin racing across the open sand.

"Now!" Kaoru hissed. Together, they broke cover. Himawari could see their destination – closer, closer . . .

 _Schiik._ The sound of a kunai whistling through the air. The wire attached to it glinted in the moonlight, meant to entangle them and bring them to a halt. Before the kunai could accomplish its mission, Kaoru drew his own and deflected it. The knife landed harmlessly in the sand with a soft thud and the two continued on without missing a beat.

Whoever had thrown it seemed to have decided that they weren't worth it and another team would come along without the confusion of darkness as accompaniment.

Himawari made it to the hole in the ground and slipped in before Kaoru who followed close behind. The tunnel was barely big enough for her to crawl along, and the earth below the surface was rocky and hard, digging into her palms and knees.

They progressed fairly quickly and in silence, but in about three minutes there were sounds coming from ahead, carried and magnified through the tunnel. As they drew closer to the source, Himawari could make out words.

"Goddamn – someone's following us. I told you to seal the fuckin hole, didn't I?" that was definitely Shikadai's voice, characterized by the wonderful language that had become second nature to him.

"There wasn't time." A female voice answered, "We were in a hurry, ok?"

"Well let's hurry _now_. They're gonna catch up!"

"This is as fast as we can go." The girl snapped, "It takes a lot of chakra."

"Why?" Himawari got the idea that Shikadai was asking out of frustration rather than curiosity.

"Because it's not meant for long distances. Now shut up if you haven't anything useful to say."

Himawari ventured to call out to them. "Shikadai!"

"The fuck – Who's that?" Shikadai's suspicious voice came louder now as he called back.

"Himawari." She answered. After rounding a bend in the tunnel, a glow illuminated the surrounding walls. The glow stemmed from Shikadai's finger in a handy fire jutsu he'd developed during their academy days, like a small candle light. It was a welcome light in the pitch blackness of underground.

Shikadai was curled up in a ball with his back to the wall, the dirt soiling the symbol of Konoha on the back of his long white coat. In front of him was a dark-haired girl with an Iwa hitai-ate, her face contorted in concentration as she lengthened the tunnel. When she saw Himawari and Kaoru she stopped her chakra flow and frowned.

"If you came to take our badge," she asked, "Why aren't you attacking?" her eyes narrowed, "What kind of trick are you playing?"

"We already have two badges." Kaoru explained, eyeing the other two warily, "We're only following you so we can get to the compound without being attacked."

"Then we should take yours to eliminate future competition." The Iwa girl growled.

"Keep working, Enyo." Shikadai said, "We're not fighting them."

"Just because she's from your village –"

"It's not because we're from the same village." Shikdai sighed, "It's because fighting down here will rupture the earth above us. That will cause a scene and we'll have at least eight genin on top of us before we can say 'shit', and fighting off that many is really too much work for this old man."

"Talk about too much work." Enyo muttered as she continued to push forward.

It was very slow progress. There was no way to tell the time of night or how far they had come, nor how far they had to go. At some point, Enyo could go no further and fell asleep on the spot, her energy spent. With progression halted, the others saw no reason to stay awake and in a short while, there was only the sound of deep breathing.

When Himawari awoke, Shikadai was shaking Enyo awake and Kaoru was already jumpy and not groggy at all. He fished the last of the dried jerky from his tool pouch and gave it to Enyo as a meager breakfast.

"The deadline is noon today." Shikadai noted, "And I've no idea what time it is now, so let's get cracking."

"This coming from the guy who thinks lifting a finger is 'too much work'." Himawari rolled her eyes and Shikadai pulled a face at her.

After two and a half hours, Enyo came to a stop. "It's the foundation of the building!" She exclaimed, pointing to the grey cinderblock before her. "Now we just need to go upwards and break through the surface."

They were not far at all from the surface, and Enyo worked with renewed vigor, so that in five minutes all four were standing upright, blinking as their eyes adjusted to the bright sunlight.

A chunin met them in the narrow entrance hallway of the outpost. "Badges, please." He held out his hand where four yellow badges were deposited.

After checking their identification and ensuring that they were in fact with the same partners they had started with, he turned to the four of them. "You passed stage two, the most trying test. But," he smirked, "The fun has yet to begin."


	6. Battle Rounds

A/N: Guys, let me apologize for the slow start of this story. I'm really sorry that I can't get it moving faster, but next chapter things will get interesting okay? :) Also, writer's block decided to show up just to remind me what a bitch it is.

* * *

Chapter Five: Battle Rounds

"What do you mean, you _put a genjutsu_ on them?" Taro crossed his arms and scowled. Team Konohamaru was gathered outside the Kazekage tower, talking over the second test. Taro, who hadn't passed, was incredibly agitated over the fact that the other two had. Hibiki didn't seem to care one way or another whether he'd passed the exams or not and observed passers by with little regard for what all was going on.

"I mean just that." Nobu shrugged, "Our badge was taken on the first day, so I just put the examiner under a genjutsu to make him think we had two."

"Well how hard is _that_?!" Taro snarled, obviously put out over the fact that Nobu had passed on what he considered a cheap trick. Hibiki panted quietly below them.

"Very." Konohamaru replied, "It's a testament to Nobu's skill that the examiner wasn't able to detect the genjutsu and dispel it – very few genin are capable of that level of jutsu."

Taro turned to Himawari. "Please tell me _you_ at least passed with two badges."

Himawari shrugged. "The team I met was pretty weak; they didn't put up much of a fight." She left out the part about being caught by the Taki nin, in which case a serious enemy could have snapped her neck easily.

"Lucky." Taro snarled, "Of course _I_ had to fight frickin Uchiha. I hope she gets her ass kicked in the battle rounds."

Konohamaru attempted to stand up for Sarada. "Wouldn't you rather have someone from our own village win over a foreigner, even if you don't like her all that much?"

"No." All three replied in unison. Konohamaru sighed and rolled his eyes, then spoke to Himawari and Nobu.

"Twenty-six genin made it past stage two." He said, "After further examination, two have been disqualified for cheating, so that leaves twenty-four altogether." He crossed his arms, leaning against the wall of the Kazekage tower. "The battle rounds are going to be long." He closed his eyes and sighed.

"Not great odds of making chunin." Nobu commented in his usual glum tone. Konohamaru opened one eye.

"On the contrary, they're good odds for any ninja."

A familiar form rounded the side of the building, interrupting the conversation.

"Konohamaru!" Moegi exclaimed. She acted like she was surprised, but Himawari would bet ramen that she'd been intentionally seeking Konohamaru out.

"Moegi!" Konohamaru's cheeks went slightly pinkish as he spotted the other jonin. "Uh, hi!"

"Giving the squad a pep talk?" Moegi observed the young ninja: one sulking, one picking at his fingernails with an uninterested expression, one perched on the railing and thoroughly enjoying her sensei's reaction, and one dog who had by this time fallen asleep with his head on his paws. "I can go away if now isn't a good time." She started to back up, but Konohamaru spoke up quickly.

"No, no! It's fine, we were just . . . just finishing up actually. Now would be a _great_ time!"

"Okay great so . . . I was just on my way to grab some food . . . want to come?" Moegi asked hopefully.

"Yeah. Yeah! Sure, yeah!"

Moegi giggled at Konohamaru's struggle. "Alright then let's go."

"You guys keep training, okay?" Konohamaru addressed his team but received no reply as he and Moegi took their leave down the main street of Suna.

"D'you think he's even gotten up the courage to give the flowers to her yet?" Taro asked after they were out of earshot.

"I think he just left them in front of her door and ran away last time." Himawari answered with a laugh.

"They were probably wilted by the time she got them." The smallest genin pointed out. Himawari shook her head.

"Yamanaka's flowers don't wilt that easily. At least their sunflowers don't." she looked towards the sky that was over her head as well as Neji's, hoping that Ino was remembering to tend to the flowers at his grave. And for the first time, she felt a little homesick for the ancient oak trees and familiar bird calls of Konoha instead of the dry, empty expanse of the desert surrounding her.

…..

"Uzumaki Boruto and Moridoki Gana!" The proctor called, and Himawari stopped daydreaming.

Konohamaru had been right – the battle rounds were dragging on. They were down to thirteen genin, with Bolt's match determining whether he or his opponent would move into the top twelve. Himawari had already beaten a Kumo nin and was scheduled to fight Shikadai in the second round.

"Good luck, Niichan." She whispered as Bolt passed her. He sent her one of his overconfident winks and continued on to the center of the arena.

Bolt had a plethora of what Iruka-sensei called 'unapplied talent.' He had slacked off terribly in the academy and had squeaked by with one of the lowest grades since Uzumaki Naruto, causing him to have been held back a year, hence his placement among Himawari's age group.

In the field, however, he performed very well against other genin. This was mostly due to the overwhelming Shadow-Clone Jutsu. One Bolt was plenty for a single person to have to handle – five was about four and a half too many. His success with that particular jutsu was the source of much jealousy on Himawari's part because shadow-clones were something she'd never managed to fully grasp, and hers always came out weak, pale, and undersized.

This battle was over quickly, ending in a few minutes with Moridoki Gana coughing on the ground and reaching for his glasses.

"Ladies and gentlemen, I present to you our top twelve contestants!" the proctor beckoned for the remaining genin to gather in the middle of the arena.

"Half of those genin are from Konoha." An old man located near Himawari pointed out to his friend, "They've got some talented ninja – the Uchiha girl in particular."

Himawari glanced towards Sarada, who was quiet and aloof as usual. Jesus, she wasn't even breaking a sweat over all the excitement! Then again, Sarada had knocked out her opponent in less than two minutes, faster than any other battle so far.

Beside Sarada stood the Iwa nin who was rumored to be a prodigy. After being drawn to fight one of his teammates, the teammate had forfeited, not wanting to lose all dignity upon getting whipped by the prodigy.

"And we will resume the battle rounds tomorrow at nine." The proctor concluded, "Please return then – because the last few rounds are always where it gets good."

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A/N: Constructive criticism and feedback is always welcome! please review


	7. Shadows

Chapter Six: Shadows

The examiner bent down to inspect the genin that were on the ground while Himawari watched the tiny one anxiously from her place in the holding area. The proctor straightened. "Double knockout." He announced to the spectators, gesturing to the med crew who rushed over. Over the noise of the chattering crowd, Himawari couldn't make out what he was saying to them, but with a nod, one medic lifted Nobu and another lifted the Kiri nin Nobu had been fighting and both were carried off the field.

Himawari turned to follow them to the infirmary, wanting to check on Nobu, but a hand on her shoulder stopped her.

"Your battle is next." Sarada reminded her, gesturing to the bulletin board which had the battles listed on it. Reluctantly, Himawari watched the medics disappear out of sight and turned back to the arena.

"Uzumaki Himawari and Nara Shikadai," the proctor called, "Both of Konoha."

Although she'd already fought one battle before the two thousand plus people who had gathered to watch the matches, her palms were still sticky with sweat and her heart began to drum wildly.

In the center of the arena, Himawari faced Shikadai, who seemed entirely at ease and unconcerned, hands in the pockets of his long white coat. Her gaze wandered to the stands, where Naruto waved to her before nudging his right-hand man and saying something with a laugh. Shikamaru scowled in response and scratched his goatee. The fact that her father was watching her only made Himawari more anxious to at least perform respectably, whether she won or not.

And then, without warning the proctor's whistle went off, signaling the beginning of the match.

Himawari quickly backed out of the range of Shikadai's jutsu, realizing that he had the advantage. If she were to move close enough to use her Gentle Fist art on him, she would also be close enough to get caught in his shadow.

She couldn't use her signature technique then, it would have to be something of a different kind altogether. Although Himawari relied heavily on her Byakugan techniques during battle, she was competent enough in Lightning Release to get by on in a pinch.

"Lightning Release: Chakra Senbon." Shikadai couldn't possibly trap _all_ of the senbon with his jutsu as they rained down upon him.

"Great Wind Jutsu!" Shikadai countered, knocking all of them away with a single blast.

Damn, Himawari had forgotten that Shikadai was also proficient in Wind jutsu, which by nature was superior to her Lightning Release.

She was lucky that it was near noon and the sun was high, casting short shadows; as long as she kept her distance and stayed moving, she should be able to avoid the Nara Hiden jutsu.

"Wind Cutter." Shikadai muttered, making the appropriate hand seals. Himawari saw the distortion in the air as he created a blade of wind that shot towards her. She jumped to allow the jutsu to pass underneath her, using chakra to enhance the height of her spring.

From the air, Himawari tossed two kunai in Shikadai's direction. He had already begun making more handseals, but was forced to abandon the pending jutsu as he deflected the weapons. Both kunai rolled into the sandy dirt harmlessly.

Moving quickly, Himawari produced about a dozen clones of herself. Unlike shadow-clones, these were only illusions and were capable of no more than distraction, but distraction was just what she wanted. And since they didn't throw shadows, they were all safe from the shadow-bind.

Himawari hid herself amongst the clones as the thirteen of them charged Shikadai at once. She knew she wouldn't have much time before Shikadai picked out the real Himawari, but she hoped the clones would cause enough confusion to allow for her close-range jutsu.

Shikadai was frantically making hand seals, but they were already upon him. In a flash, Himawari reached out and jabbed him in the stomach, sealing a chakra point. As she did, Shikadai's eyes met hers – he knew she wasn't a clone. Himawari somersaulted away as fast as possible as Shikadai swiped a hand through all twelve clones to dispose of them, bending over to cough as his stomach was deprived of chakra.

Himawari saw her chance and instigated the Chakra Senbon Jutsu once more while Shikadai was preoccupied. He dodged some and deflected others, but a couple of them stung his skin, leaving red marks.

In the audience money exchanged hands, and Himawari was rather proud to know that at least a few spectators had betted on her getting the first hit.

Soon enough, Shikadai had also drawn blood from her after Himawari tried and failed to dodge a dual wind blade attack, receiving a cut on her cheek where drops of blood beaded and ran down her face.

And so it went back and forth, with Himawari utilizing every opportunity to step in and cut off chakra points, and Shikadai constantly forcing her back towards the edge of the arena with his Wind Release.

Shikadai tossed a kunai, but Himawari didn't even have to dodge as the weapon buried itself in the ground near her. She didn't remember Shikadai's aim being that bad; perhaps she'd hit one of the chakra points near his arm in one of her hurried dashes with the Gentle Fist.

Nevertheless, she kept away from the center where Shikadai stood, sticking instead to the area near the stands. Himawari raised her hands in the Ox and Dog seals, preparing another Lightning Jutsu to use as a distraction. During the Dog seal, she encountered unexpected resistance, unable to remove her hands from the position.

She immediately recognized the hold of the shadow possession, but knew Shikadai's shadow couldn't stretch the distance between them. Looking down, she saw that her left heel was connected by shadow to the shadow cast by the stands, and which she had wandered too close to in her efforts to steer clear of Shikadai himself.

From the stand shadow, Himawari traced the trail back to three kunai in the ground, two of which she'd thrown in the beginning of the match and the other that he'd thrown near her moments ago. The three were connected by shadow, which was in turn connected to Shikadai's own shadow, so that she and Shikadai were connected in once huge arc between the shadow of the kunai and the shadow of the stands.

There was a cheer from the spectators who had been rooting for Shikadai, and now Shikamaru nudged Naruto with a triumphant smirk.

Himawari felt her finger twitch – so did Shikadai's. With an a-ha moment, she remembered that in this jutsu, whatever happened to the captive, the captor would also feel.

Without a moment's hesitation, Himawari cut off the chakra flow in her wrists, rendering hers and Shikamaru's hands useless. She saw his fingers fall slack but much to her surprise, the release of the hand seal did not release the jutsu, and she remained frozen on the spot.

"I don't need the hand seal to maintain Shadow Posession." Shikadai explained, "Only to activate it. Losing the use of your hands isn't going to help anything."

Himawari considered this and allowed the chakra flow to resume in their wrists, thinking that _maybe_ she'd be able to resist the jutsu and form a hand seal – she'd heard of it being done before.

The moment she had, the air began to distort – another Wind jutsu.

"Wind Release, A Thousand Pricks!"

Rooted in place, Himawari could only watch as the air formed into so many tiny little needles, all pointed towards her and ready to fly at a moment's notice. Shikadai would be planning to release the jutsu at the very instant she was struck by the wave of air needles, giving her no time to defend herself between the time she was released and the time she was hit.

If she didn't do something in the next few seconds, she'd be cut to ribbons by those tiny air blades. So Himawari utilized the only jutsu she could think of that would deflect all of the blades: the Eight Trigrams.

Without the aid of hand seals to regulate her chakra flow, it was going to be sloppy and substandard. Too bad, she had to do it anyway. Himawari tried to concentrate on getting the spin of her chakra up to speed within her body, but with the threat of Shikadai's wind jutsu combined with the shadow possession, she completely lost hold of her chakra at once and it spiraled out of control.

In the matter of two seconds, Himawari felt something snap inside her body and a foreign substance that was raging and roiling like a great wave hit her with all the force of a brick wall.

And then all hell broke loose.


	8. Unleashed

AN: I can now truthfully say that I own the cover image :)

enjoy, review, thank you.

* * *

Chapter Seven: Unleashed

Hell was breaking loose alright, complete with the red vision and burning sensation racing up and down Himawari's skin. A scream welled up inside her and manifested in a growling roar that should not have come out of a thirteen-year-old girl's mouth.

Had Himawari been able to see anything but scarlet, she would have observed the Hokage shoving his hat into Shikamaru's chest and leaping down from the Kage seating box, white haori flapping behind him.

Naruto stood before his daughter, forming hand seals that were not any of the common twelve that were taught to genin. Then he pressed his palm to her shoulder, not seeming to be bothered by plunging his hand into the red chakra enveloping her.

Whatever he had done caused the foreign chakra to dissipate with a whoosh and the burning sensation to fade. Himawari caught only a glimpse of her stony-faced father before her eyes rolled back and she collapsed, losing consciousness.

…

Himawari awoke to the smell of antiseptic in her nose and the view of the white ceiling in the Sunagakure hospital.

Bolt's face entered her line of sight, looking down on her with the characteristic grin.

"You're awake!"

Himawari remembered everything with a jolt and quickly sat up in the hospital bed, only to groan and lay back down again when her head began to swim.

"What happened to me?" she asked Bolt immediately, looking around the room. "What about Shikadai? And Nobu?"

"I don't know what happened with the red chakra thing." Bolt replied a little irritably, "I'm sure Dad knows something but he had to go back and watch the exams to keep up appearances. He won't tell me _anything_. Nobu is fine – his head wound was less serious than they thought. Shikadai's in bad shape but he'll be okay. As for –"

"What do you mean he's in bad shape?" Himawari interrupted, "Didn't he win?"

Bolt raised an eyebrow. "The empathy link between your shadows was still intact when . . . whatever happened happened. He felt the same thing you did, but you're recovering a lot better than he is."

"It was another double knockout?"

He shrugged, "I think the official ruling was 'disqualification due to interference.' You took out Shikadai but they disqualified you when Dad interrupted the match."

"So how long have I been here?" Himawari asked, hoping it was still the same day.

"Not very." Bolt replied, "Only about an hour. Sarada and Iwamaru are battling it out in the final right now."

"You're missing the final?!" Himawari asked incredulously, "But you should be watching Sarada – she's your teammate."

"I am." Bolt replied smugly, "I left a shadow clone to watch the fight for me."

"Who's winning?"

Bolt crossed his arms. "I can't tell you that now; I have to wait till the clone poofs away to acquire its memories."

"I want to watch." Himawari sat up slowly this time and started to get out of the bed. "Is Sarada getting beat up?" she added hopefully

"I just told you I don't know," Bolt rolled his eyes, "But what I _do_ know is that they told me not to let you out if you woke up."

"Why not?" Himawari glared.

"Because you need to rest." Bolt said sternly, pushing her back into the bed by the shoulders.

"I already rested – ow!" Himawari jerked her left shoulder away from Bolt's touch, hoping it was only a bruise that was causing the soreness and nothing more.

Himawari emitted a small noise of surprise as she got a good look at her shoulder in the mirror on the wall. Instead of the whopping bruise she had expected, there was a strange swirly mark that looked a bit like some sort of tribal sun design.

"What the hell is this?!"

Her brother shrugged indifferently. "Not sure. It popped up after Dad made the red chakra go away. Does it hurt?"

"Just a little sore." Himawari replied, poking it experimentally. Nothing happened upon inspecting it, so Himawari let it alone and stood up once more, much to Bolt's chagrin.

"No, you have to stay in bed. Really, if anything happens to you because I let you up, you know Dad will _kill_ me." Bolt insisted. Himawari waved a hand dismissively.

"I feel fine, okay? I wanna see the match. Aren't you even a _little_ curious?" she asked, appealing to Bolt's natural curiosity. Bolt hesitated and messed with his hair, considered Himawari's state, and glanced towards the window.

"Is anyone coming down the hall?" he asked. Himawari understood and activated her Byakugan to seek out approaching medical nin.

"There's a nurse coming – oh, wait she went into a different room. Yep, all clear."

"Then let's go before someone decides to check on you." Bolt opened the window and crouched on the sill before swinging out the window, using chakra to keep himself from falling down the brick wall. Himawari followed, leaping the last few feet to the ground.

"You're _sure_ you're up for this?" Bolt inquired as she landed beside him.

"Of course. Come _on_." She dragged him along by the wrist, heading in the direction of the arena. In truth, she did feel a little beat up and exhausted, but there was no way she was telling Bolt that or he'd make her turn right around and go back to bed.

When they reached the arena entrance, a man stopped them. "Tickets." He held out his hand. Himawari looked at Bolt and Bolt looked at Himawari and both of them looked at the man, who raised his eyebrows expectantly.

"You _do_ have tickets, don't you?"

"Um," Himawari replied intelligently, "Oh yeah! Yeah, we do." She made a couple of hand seals behind her back and waited.

The ticket man wrinkled his nose. "Don't try to genjutsu _me_ , young lady. This is a _ninja_ convention – I'm trained for exactly that type of thing."

Disappointed that her trick hadn't worked, Himawari motioned for Bolt to follow her with a muttered apology to the ticket man.

"We can just scale the arena wall." She proposed once they were out of earshot, but Bolt shook his head.

"There are Anbu guards all along the top of the wall." He pointed upwards, and Himawari could see one Suna Anbu directly above them and faced inwards towards the arena, his face completely covered by linen save for his eyes. He glanced at them briefly, but didn't seem to acknowledge them as a threat to the well-being of anyone inside the arena.

A boom erupted from the other side of the wall, accompanied by a cheer. Himawari held up her hand and whispered, "Byakugan!"

Through the wall she could make out the chakra forms of Sarada and her opponent. Sarada's chakra was spread thinly – she'd used a lot.

The opponent was in better shape, and it was he who had caused the boom by making a large hole in the ground beside Sarada.

"What's going on?!" Bolt whined.

"Sarada's having a hard time." Himawari gathered. Bolt's eyes lit up.

"Konoha's pride and joy, Uchiha Sarada, is _having a hard time_? This I have to see."

He made to climb the wall, but Himawari pulled him back, gesturing towards the Anbu. Reluctantly, Bolt stayed on the ground and Himawari returned her attention to the battle.

"Iwamaru – is that his name? Iwamaru's got a glass wall around him as a shield." She narrated, "Sarada's making hand seals – ooh! She's going to do the fireball jutsu! Oh wow! The fireball is melting a hole in the glass. She couldn't keep it up though it's gone out. Iwamaru's trying to repair the hole – Sarada just threw a kunai through it, he's – hey, who's that body over there?" Himawari broke off, having discovered a horizontal chakra form near the edge of the arena. The person was alive but unconscious.

"That'd be the Kiri nin – Kaoru." Bolt said, "I was supposed to fight him but I forfeited so he was put through to the final. It was a three-way battle and he was knocked out cold thirty seconds in. That's what the nurse who updated me said anyway."

"Wait, you _forfeited_?!" Himawari repeated, not able to imagine Bolt forfeiting to anyone, not even Sarada or Iwamaru.

"I was worried about you." He shrugged.

"You forfeited a battle to watch me sleep?"

"I didn't know what kind of state you were in! Whatever happened was serious enough for Dad to get involved." He argued "My little sister is more important than some stupid Kiri guy, okay? I'm your brother, it's my job to protect you." He looked down, seemingly rather embarrassed after this episode.

"But Nichan, I'm a fully-fledged shinobi. I can take care of myself."

"Yeah," He allowed a small smile and turned back towards the wall. "I know."

Himawari too turned back to the battle, narrating along. "Iwamaru's taken some hits. He and Sarada are about at the same chakra level now. One of her chakra vessels is ruptured, looks painful. Interesting. Iwamaru's kekkei-genkai looks like some sort of glass jutsu that's reinforced with chakra to make it stro –"

"Ugh, this will never do!" Bolt interrupted angrily, "I need to _see_ it."

"Let me put a genjutsu on you!" Himawari exclaimed with a sudden idea.

"What?"

" _I_ can watch the battle through Byakugan, and then put it into your head in the form of genjutsu." She explained excitedly. Sarada countered Iwamaru's punch with a reaction time only allowed by the Sharingan and they sprung apart again.

Bolt thought about it. "Don't make me do anything stupid."

"Of course not."

Himawari was mediocre at genjutsu; better than Taro but nowhere near as good as Nobu. She tended not to use it during combat because it required an amount of focus and chakra manipulation that was impractical for her in the midst of battle. But soon enough she had managed it, and Bolt was staring blankly at the arena wall, blue eyes vacant. As the match continued she relayed it into his mind.

"So this is what it's like to have the Byakugan." Bolt breathed aloud, "Wow . . ."

After fighting for a good ten minutes, Sarada and Iwamaru were both tiring quickly. Sarada with the Sharingan was able to anticipate every attack, and Iwamaru was just so . . . _good_. Both had received minor cuts and bruises. Sarada's nose was bleeding heavily and one of Iwamaru's toes was purple and swollen like it might be broken.

Iwamaru said something that Himawari couldn't hear over the wall, flung his arm and produced a hail of glass shards upon Sarada. Sarada saw each one and where it was going to land, leaping back far enough to avoid all of them. The shards buried themselves in the ground between the genin, creating a barrier.

Sarada fought back with a second Fireball Jutsu, which Iwamaru dodged, but one tail of his haori was caught by the flame, and it began to smoke dangerously. The Iwa nin took his eyes off Sarada for a second to swat out the flame, and in that second she jumped over the glass shards and dashed forward, three shuriken preceding her.

Iwamaru turned in time to knock the weapons away, but was not ready for Sarada who followed an instant after them, swinging her forearm around to catch Iwamaru under the chin, though he nearly managed to block it. The blow knocked him back several steps and from there it was a simple matter of hand-to-hand combat, in which the Sharingan had the obvious advantage.

Several vicious strikes later, Iwamaru lay on the ground and Sarada stood over him, pummeling him for all she was worth. Bloody-nosed and unmoving, Iwamaru was already obviously out, but Sarada continued anyway, her fists covered with his scarlet blood.

From the stands, her teammate Daichi stood in his seat and Rika barked loudly to get Sarada's attention. When she turned towards them, Daichi said something that Himawari couldn't make out, but did get the gist of.

"Sarada. Enough."

Sarada looked down at Iwamaru and stood up again, expression unreadable as usual. The proctor stepped forward onto the battlefield and lifted Sarada's arm to the cheering crowd.

"Ladies and gentlemen, the winner of these chunin exams: Uchiha Sarada of Konohagakure!"

Although they clapped politely, the other genin seemed a bit put out; in particular the Iwa nin, who grumbled to each other in low voices.

Suddenly, something yanked Himawari by the collar and she squeaked in surprise. The genjutsu was broken with her concentration and Bolt returned to himself, twisting in his captor's grip. The Suna Anbu above them turned from his station to see what was going on, but decided it wasn't worth bothering with and remained where he was.

" _You_ have not been discharged from the hospital!" Konohamaru snarled at Himawari. He turned to Bolt. "And _you_ forfeited your match to stay with her, so I expected you to stay! Didn't I tell you she'd want to escape as soon as she woke up?" he shook Bolt by the shoulder, "Fine brother you are, Uzumaki Boruto!"

Bolt had the good grace to look guilty and Konohamaru glared at him frostily for a second longer.

"He's just a shadow clone." Himawari observed, having seen her sensei in the crowd only moments before.

"The shadow clone of a jonin is nothing to be disregarded so easily." Konohamaru said, "I can still take both of you with my eyes closed, so don't even try." He let go of their collars with a shove. "Now _get_ back where you're meant to be before I tell your father what the hell you've been up to."

Himawari and Bolt scurried off in the direction of the hospital, eager to be out from under the disapproving frown of the jonin, who adjusted his scarf around his neck and nodded politely in greeting to the Suna Anbu before disappearing in a puff of smoke.


	9. Slug Princess

Chapter Eight: Slug Princess

"My god, he looks more like Minato every day." Tsunade snapped her gloves against her wrists as she put them on. She glanced over Himawari and Bolt who sat side by side in the examination room of Konoha's hospital, which held too many scary-looking machines that emitted strange noises now and then.

"That's what Kakashi-sensei says, too." Naruto grinned and ruffled Bolt's hair with his prosthetic hand, only to have Bolt duck and swat him away.

"I still don't understand why _I_ have to be here." He grumbled, "Wari-chan's the one who needs medical attention."

Sakura tied back her hair, which meant she was getting down to business. "You are here, Bolt, because what happened concerning Himawari at the chunin exams may _also_ possibly happen to you in the future."

"Well you know, it would be really nice if I _knew_ what all actually happened." Bolt crossed his arms and his voice dripped with sarcasm. He'd been in a foul mood on the return journey from Suna, still irritated over the fact that Sarada had been made a chunin and _he_ hadn't.

Himawari had told him that he couldn't really expect to become a chunin after forfeiting to a Kiri nin, now could he? To which Bolt had sniffed dismissively and replied that he hoped she was grateful, because he'd forfeited for _her_.

Of all the Konoha genin that had entered the exams, only Sarada and Inojin had made chunin, though Naruto reported that they had considered Nobu and Shikadai for a long time before deciding to wait another six months to see more of them in the next chunin exams.

Tsunade approached Himawari while she answered Bolt. "All will be explained, Bolt, just be patient." The Sannin poked around Himawari's shoulder and the swirly mark. "Does this hurt?"

"It's just sore." Himawari replied, "Feels kind of like a bruise."

Tsunade nodded, then brought a flare of chakra to her index finger and touched the center of the swirl. "How bout this?"

Himawari jumped back at the touch "Ow! Yes, that hurts."

"Does it feel like a burn?"

"Yes."

"Good. It'll heal up pretty quickly if I know the Uzumaki Clan." With this, Tsunade seemed to be finished probing and stood upright again. "Nice job on the seal, Naruto, but I'm not sure you really needed something of that level. Sakura, what do you think?"

"Not something of _that level_?!" Naruto burst out, "It was the Kyuubi! That seal couldn't even keep it inside _me_!" he pointed towards the swirly mark.

"The Kyuubi?" Himawari asked uncertainly, "As in . . . the Tailed-Beast?"

"I thought he was on our side." Bolt pointed out.

"As far as we know, he is." Naruto said shortly. He didn't like to talk about the Kyuubi and the subject was rarely broached during dinner conversations. Hinata had told her that it was an instinctual thing he'd learned as a child: talking about the Kyuubi was bad.

"Have the X-rays developed?" Tsunade turned to Sakura, who was studying two dark sheets in answer. As she examined them, her brow furrowed.

"Look at this. There's a secondary chakra network in both of them."

"That's impossible!" Tsunade snatched the X-rays from Sakura and held them close to her nose. "Good grief, so there is! It's really faint but . . ." she looked at Himawari over the top of the sheets. "Did you know about this?"

Himawari quickly shook her head no.

"See if you can find the secondary chakra network in Bolt." Sakura proposed. Himawari obeyed and examined Bolt with the Bakugan, but try as she might she could only find one.

"Only the one chakra network and the blood vessels."

"Blood vessels . . ." Sakura mused. Then, "Blood vessels?"

"Well yeah." Himawari shrugged, not sure why it was important, "The Byakugan can see blood vessels, though not as clearly as chakra vessels. But didn't you know that already?"

"Everything we've ever studied on the Byakugan indicates only that it can detect chakra." Tsunade said, "Therefore . . . if the Byakugan can also see a person's blood vessels . . ."

"It means that there's chakra in blood!" Bolt deduced, and Tsunade nodded in a satisfied way.

"I see you're not as stupid as you father was at your age."

"Hey!" Naruto exclaimed, "Watch what you say about your Hokage, you wrinkly old grandma!"

"Watch what you say about the greatest kunoichi in the world, idiot!" Sakura shot back, defending her sensei. Himawari rolled her eyes at Bolt as the adults bickered.

"All right calm down!" Tsunade exclaimed after a minute, "Let's digress. If there is blood in chakra, it explains why generally a Tailed Beast cannot be extracted from a person without the jinchuriki's death – to remove the beast's chakra would be to remove too much of the jinchuriki's own blood. A jinchuriki has more chakra than most in their blood, because they have the tailed beasts' as well as their own. So much, in fact, that their blood shows up on a chakra X-ray, where a normal person's would not."

"But Himawari and Bolt aren't jinchuriki!" Naruto exclaimed. "Kurama is still inside _me_."

Tsunade looked at him with some expression that Himawari could not decipher. "They are not jinchuriki in the true sense," she answered, "But from what we have gathered about the incident at the Chunin Exams, Himawari at least is a carrier of the Kyuubi's chakra, and from what the X-rays show, Bolt is as well. Whether or not they are able to control and utilize that chakra remains to be seen." She glanced at Himawari. "For now, I think we should take the seal off of Himawari."

"No way." Naruto shook his head firmly. "If you had any idea of Kurama's power . . ."

"Naruto," Sakura stepped in, "Their situation isn't the same as yours. They don't have Kurama's conscience inside them like you do, they've only inherited some form of its chakra through genetic ties. The seal is an unnecessarily powerful thing for something that may not even be a problem – it certainly hasn't been for the past thirteen years, and never for Bolt. Besides, it's only going to leech off of her chakra anyway. Best take it off and we'll see how things develop from there."

Naruto hesitated and chewed the inside of his cheek. Clearly, his friend's arguments had swayed him. "What kind of risks are involved with that?"

"Well. . ." Tsunade and Sakura looked at each other. "We don't really know."

Naruto chewed his cheek some more and glanced at Himawari and then continued gnawing. "It's your choice." He said finally with the furrowed brow of a parent who doesn't know what's best for his child.

Himawari nearly leapt up from her seat. "Yes! Take it off!" Kyuubi chakra! Who'd have imagined? The things she'd be able to do for Konoha! The powerful kunoichi she'd become!

"You're sure?" Sakura asked, hesitantly laying her palm on the girl's shoulder.

"Yes!"

"Well," the pink-haired nin smiled quietly, "There's no mistaking that you are Naruto's daughter." With this, chakra flared on each of the fingertips on her right hand and she jabbed her hand onto the seal. A burning sensation seared through Himawari's arm, through her heart, through her whole body. After several seconds of a sharp pain, it began to fade and Sakura removed her hand, revealing only a barren shoulder where the seal had previously decorated it.

"There. It's done. Do you feel any different?"

Himawari gave it a second while the others watched her closely. Then she shook her head, feeling perfectly normal, which was a bit disappointing.

Tsunade shrugged and turned as she collected the two X-rays. "Who's to say what will happen?" she grinned over her shoulder before marching out of the room, clipboard in hand.

And the foreign chakra Himawari had felt on that day in Sunagakure would not rear its head again for several months afterward.


End file.
